Red Bull has been under pressure to replace Sergio Perez since midway through the season, but now it appears they have finally made a decision.
Perez has been on a run of poor results, having only finished inside the top 10 places once in the last four races. He has been blamed for costing Red Bull this year’s Constructors’ Championship, which is set to see them lose millions in prize money.
Team principal Christian Horner has told Perez that he must ‘come to his own conclusions’ in Qatar, when asked if he is going to give Perez the opportunity to prove he should continue with the team.
Perez has a contract in place for 2025 having negotiated the deal earlier in the season off the back of strong start and while it looked like it was down to him to make a decision, it appears Red Bull has already came to a conclusion on who will replace him.
A report in Motorsport Italy has revealed who Red Bull plans to replace Perez in 2025, having had several drivers available to choose from in their stable.
Liam Lawson will reportedly replace Sergio Perez for 2025 season
According to the report, Red Bull has decided to end its relationship with Perez with an announcement expected after the Abu Dhabi weekend.
Liam Lawson is expected to be announced as his replacement, having been the preferred candidate over Yuki Tsunoda. It comes after reports that Horner did not want to promote Tsunoda due to his fiery conduct off track.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko is hopeful that Lawson’s promotion will enable the team to find some stability, after an inconsistent year and controversy off the track for the world champions.
The 21-year-old has already proved that he can race with some of F1’s best, with Jolyon Palmer saying Lawson has a ‘spikey character’ that can make him a great Red Bull driver.
Sergio Perez out-qualified by Valtteri Bottas in Abu Dhabi
Perez’s lacklustre form continued in Abu Dhabi when he faced being knocked out early in qualifying on more than one occasion.
His lap time in Q1 was initially deleted for track limits at Turn 1, before it was reinstated by the stewards after they were told by Red Bull to look at the infringement again.
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Perez would later escape another early exit at the end of Q2 when Charles Leclerc had his lap time deleted for track limits at the same corner, enabling the Mexican to stay in the top ten times following a late improvement by Valtteri Bottas.
The Mexican eventually qualified in P10 and was 0.669s off polesitter Lando Norris, getting out-qualified by Bottas in the Sauber. Perez must hope for a ‘stunning’ feat in Abu Dhabi to save his Red Bull seat, however, it looks like a decision has already been made on the Mexican.
